Chinese state-owned telecommunication company China Mobile is building a 5G smart highway project in Wuhan in Hubei province.

The first 5G smart highway project in the country is currently under construction. Once it is complete, the telecommunications company plans to introduce 5G services on the highway, starting with ‘smart toll stations’ that could replace the present equipment and human operators.

China Mobile intends to collect real-time traffic information, make AI-assisted forecasts using the data, which will support driverless cars.

The carrier has currently installed 31 5G base stations in Wuhan under this project and expects to add another 2,000 units this year with an investment of $148.3m.

Currently, location planning is underway for toll station testing under the highway project. The telecom company has also applied for autonomous driving test permits. If it receives the permits, autonomous cars will be able to share the highway with human-operated vehicles.

“The carrier has currently installed 31 5G base stations in Wuhan under this project and expects to add another 2,000 units this year with an investment of $148.3m.”

The 5G smart highway project is being integrated with Cloud computing, internet of things (IoT), big data, and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as other internet technologies.

China Mobile Group Hubei Company general manager Fan Bingheng told China Daily.com that the use of 5G in smart transportation will bring great changes to the revolution of the transportation industry.

Although China Mobile is not the world’s telecom carrier to venture into this segment, it may be the first to provide commercial and coordinated transportation services on highways based on the progress made by competitors in other countries such as South Korea.

South Korean telecom companies SK Telecom, KT, and LG U+ have all operated limited 5G tests of autonomous vehicles. Samsung has even set up a city to test cars.